The Wine Knows

I'm most of the way through George Taber's To Cork or Not to Cork, a book that looks at the history of using corks as wine bottle closures.

It's a fascinating read, much more than one might think upon first glance. Taber, who penned the brilliant Judgment of Paris in 2005, goes after something even more controversial in this book. He delves into the methods of making corks, then looks at the inherent problems and the rise of alternatives, especially in the past decade.

While I have followed the developments of various alternative closures via news and technical stories, I did not see them in their historical perspective until reading Taber's book.

So far, I can heartily recommend this book. In fact, it should be required reading for anyone in any aspect of the wine business.